There is but one dessert, frozen yogurt, tart and somewhat grainy. It’s simply delicious rather than mind-blowing. A version of the salad called fattoush is fresh and lovely, laced with crunchy bits of bread and pomegranate. Lamb souvlakia has good flavor, the skewers generously treated with herbs, but the meat is tough. Harissa BBQ duck with carrot, orange blossom, and almonds is too sweet one night. It’s a pleasure to taste things get even better. Particularly with a menu like Sarma’s, precision in seasoning can be the difference between good food and great food. Sarma opened in early October, and as the kitchen hits its stride, the spicing becomes surer, backed by gentle but steady chile heat. This swirl of influences feels natural rather than forced, an extension of Turkish and Middle Eastern flavors rather than an overthrow. And Brussels sprouts are meaty and downright rich in a spicy preparation with crumbled hazelnuts and chorizo. Lamejun, Armenian meat pies, get a vegetarian spin with a savory mushroom spread and assorted pickles.ĭelicate bay scallops are cloaked in brown butter with cauliflower and currants, the fruit sweet and tart against the nutty flavors.
The filling seems more Red Lobster than Rabat, but as a whole - bundled with kohlrabi, vermicelli, and pistachio - the dish works wonderfully. In another dish, Moroccan fried shrimp, Southeast Asian-style lettuce wraps meet popcorn-style seafood. Pumpkin fritters, crisp outside and creamy inside, evoke dim sum taro cakes for the Thanksgiving table, topped with a vivid cilantro sauce. It’s a ham-and-biscuit sandwich run through Google Translate. The result is wonderfully light patties topped with a green papaya salad and a green Israeli hot sauce called zhoug: cross-cultural crab cakes.Īnd buñuelos, like Latin American gougeres, form the bookends to a pork-belly sandwich with quince paste and green olive, the flavors familiar yet different. Usually hefty fried footballs of bulgur and meat, here the dish incorporates red lentils and crab. The chickpea spread itself is smooth and balanced it’s decorated with tabbouleh, pine nuts, avocado, pomegranate seeds, and more, the flavors lively and bold, each bite of interest.Įven less like one would imagine is Sarma’s version of kibbeh. So where to begin? The seven-layer hummus is a solid starting point, if only because it sounds banal - a potluck appetizer, a grocery-store offering in a plastic tub - and isn’t.